You Sunk my Battleship
by MaggieFrost
Summary: When life gives you Lemons, you host yourself a little games night with all of those you love! Even if someone always is a sore loser.


You Sunk my Battleship!

He walked into the family home that he was so familiar with, he could hear her singing away in the kitchen, he could hear in the far distance arguments and he could tell that the kids were upstairs, he walked into the kitchen and she looked up at him smiling

"Hello"

"Hello Haley Robert" he said picking up a carrot stick that she had chopped and crunching down on it as she laughed at the nickname that he had recently given her "What are you guys up to tonight?"  
>"Nothing" she said quickly and decisively "Why? What are you up to Clayton?"<br>"Well King of Uno-topia and I were thinking we might have a bit of a games night, if you're interested, you know you can bring the kids, we'll have dinner and an assortment of games, friends and alcohol so we can all put up with your sisters horrible competitive streak" he said as Haley laughed remembering all the times they had forgotten growing up how competitive Quinn got in board games, there was the time she threw the mouse trap board across the room, the time she ran away from home because she lost at Pictionary ranting about how their dad had cheated and that he wasn't playing fair, you would think that after many horrible endings to game night that the James family had to endure they would have cancelled it, but the entertainment of family time, of Quinn James without hesitation, at every single one of them throwing a hissy fit, it was so much fun, so entertaining for them all.

"I'll have to ask Nathan" she said crossing the kitchen bench and scooping her six month old son out of the high chair, an exaggerated gasp on her face as she held him in the air and he kicked his legs with such glee with a massive slobbery grin, she pulled him to her body and sat him on her lap "But it should be fine, actually it should be fun" she said with a smile on her face "Now will you hold him while I go and get Isabella from her play mat" she said referring to the fussy baby behind them gurgling on the floor and shaking her rattle. Haley handed Sam to his uncle Clay who began fussing over the baby boy "Hello my handsome Nephew, you know you look exactly like your dad, you're going to be ruggedly handsome when you grow up, you're going to be fighting off the ladies and people like your dorky uncle Clay are going to be so jealous of you. Yes they are!" he said in the high pitched tone that he usually got when he talked to little kids and babies. Haley walked back over with her little baby girl on her hip and with a smile on her face, Clay was really good with kids, he had really manned up when it came to Logan and she could see that in no time Quinn and Clay would be popping out more babies so that she could be an aunty again to more gorgeous babies. She heard the door open but before she could confirm that her husband was home her eldest daughter ran into the room, hugging her mother legs and turning on the dance game before her dad and brother could even make it past the foyer, Haley was impressed. "Not too loud baby" she said as she made it to where her husband and eldest child stood, she smiled as Nathan leaned down to kiss her and then baby Isabella before they both walked to the kitchen together. Nathan walked to the fridge and retrieved three bottles of water, one for himself, one for his son Jamie and the other for clay who swapped the baby for the bottle of water.

"So honey Clay was wondering if we wanted to go around tonight to have a games night" she said with a grin on her face as she put her head around the corner to check that Lydia was still dancing away and happy.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Last time we had a games night Quinn literally sunk the battleships, she threw them in the pool" he said as Clay, Haley and Jamie laughed.

X-x-x-x-x-x

"Clay" she said her voice quivering with excitement, game nights were rare for them and she wasn't one hundred per cent sure why "I think they are here" she said jumping up from the couch that she sat on surrounded by board games and card games, and any sort of game you could think of. "Well hello lovely sister" she said throwing the door open and allowing her niece to run past her legs and to the bench where Logan sat eating his noodles, Lydia bob was a bit smitten with her cousin Logan. Quinn laughed looking from where the little kids sat to her sister who stood with her six month old son in her arms; Nathan was at the bottom of the stairs with Jamie at his side and Izzy on his hip talking to the rest of the formed group "I'm guessing Lydia dressed herself again" Quinn said with a laugh as Haley did the same looking at the little girl who had her hair in two buns on the side of her head, a long sleeve top, shorts, long socks and ugboots. This girl had her own style down pat and her aunty admired that in her.

X-x-x-x-x-x

The people in the room were scattered in different locations throughout the living room all in groups laughing and drinking wine, Haley, Brooke, Skills and Millicent crowded around a monopoly board. A glass of wine in Brooke's hand as she looked to where her husband sat with Clay and Quinn playing operation and then to the middle of the living room where all the kids with Chase and Alex played twister. The house was filled with laughter and Quinn sat back thinking as the laughter and happiness engulfed her, that if the rest of her days were like this one then she would have the happiest life imaginable. Eventually the other games faded and people either joined in on the never ending falls and body twisting that was provided by the game of twister, the kids and the adults getting more hysterical as the contorted their bodies into different shapes and eventually fell, or the adults began chatting. Eventually as the kids began falling into a heap of sleepiness and cartoons Clay made his way to the middle of the room putting his beer down on the bench as he did, Haley walked out of the room with Izzy in her arms and Lydia running ahead of her to get the best spot on her uncle Clay's favourite chair. "Okay so now it is time for our final game" he said as everyone began crowding around him, other than Nathan who was putting 'sponge bob square pants' into the dvd player and turning the television on for the attentive kids. "We are going to end this night with a good old fashioned game of UNO" he said with a smile on his face as his girlfriend not so subtly celebrated in the corner.

"I'm the KING of UNO" she said with such enthusiasm as everyone ignored her and focused on smirking Clay

"Now first things first we are going to be paired off into twos second of all I bags not being with Quinn" he said as the group in front of him laughed and his girlfriend whinged loudly

"Well whoever decides to come with me will win" she said with a smile "Who wants to be with me?" she asked before hearing nothing but silence and awkward looks no one able to make eye contact other than her sister briefly who seeing the upset look in her sisters eyes nudged her husband who turned to her and they both had this internal conversation with each other which basically said 'do it and I will give you anything you want' he smirked and she raised her eyebrow.

"I could use I win, I'll go with you Quinney" he said stepping forward and taking a sip of his beer, Quinn quickly jumped to his side and attached herself to her brother in laws torso.

"I guess you are with me Hales" Clay said with a smile before walking over to the bench and picking up the deck of UNO cards as everyone shuffled to join all of the tables so that there was room for everyone to play.

X-x-x-x-x-x

They had dwindled the group into finalist which included Haley and Clay versus Quinn and Nathan; let's just say It was on. They had taken a short recess to 'get their minds in the game' but instead spent the time having another drink or tucking their kids in, Haley sat on a kitchen chair with her baby boy in her arms watching as the group huddled around and as Clay got 'fresh' and 'un-tampered' with cards, as the competitors came to the arena, well the kitchen table, Haley passed baby Sam to his Uncle Skills and then turned around to play.

"If we win this thing" Clay said leaning forwards grabbing Haley's hands as she cups the cards to deal "We are going to body slam" he said with a smile as Haley laughed

"They are table talking" Quinn said outraged as she walked over "Conspiracy! Cheating"

"Calm down Quinney we were just talking" Haley said with a smirk on her face as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her right leg onto the top left one.

"I think we need an impartial dealer" she said as Haley shrugged her shoulders and passed the deck of cards to Brooke who stood behind her.

X-x-x-x-x-x

It was a whirlwind of cards flying, 'oohs' and 'aahs' as people were handed draw fours and reverse cards. Yellow went on yellow, soon followed by a red, Quinn was looking ferociously down the table with two cards in her hand and four in Nathans, she noticed that Clay had six and Haley was on two, she wished she could read Haley's face but Haley had learnt at a young age that if she wanted to get anything past Quinn or if she wanted a true surprised Quinn breakdown she had to keep her cards close to her chest and her poker face on. It was Quinn's turn again she quickly threw down her red five "UNO", hoping that the fastness of her actions would throw the rest of the competitors off, she also hoped that this dramatic change in colour would mean that Haley couldn't throw down one of her cards. They got past Nathan and she watched as her sister carefully put down her card and said in true James style "Uno" so calm and collected, Quinn felt herself getting sweaty, but she was one card away from reaching her goal of winning, but she felt uneasy she was trying to get a feel of what Clay was going to throw down, he had this look on his face but she couldn't quite read it but it was certainly was making her nervous. Clay did it slowly almost smugly, he pulled the card up out of his hand as everyone held their breath, if Clay played his cards right, he and Haley could win, if he did it wrong Quinn and Nathan would win, and with that he threw down a red skip card, the crowd let out a 'whoop' as Quinn put her head in her hands and Haley threw down her last card, squealing, standing up and spinning around as everyone clapped and cheered. Clay looked at her and she looked at him "You ready for this?" he asked as Nathan comforted Quinn. Haley nodded and made her way around the table, her squeal had woken up a few of the children, they stood across from each other and then ran towards each other, Haley chickened out at the last moment clutching her chest and ducking as they both laughed and settled for a celebratory hug.

All in all this was a pretty successful games night.

The end..


End file.
